Between the Lines: Life Lessons from the Creative Writing Workshop
May 2026 · Sold by Simon and Schuster
Ebook
272
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About this ebook
‘I loved it’ KIT DE WAAL, author of The Best of Everything
‘Generous, intelligent, full of wisdom and insight’ LILY DUNN, author of Sins of My Father
*
A transformative guide to creative writing and the power of paying attention.
The way we use language to tell stories reveals a lot about who we are and what matters to us. In Between the Lines, Julia Bell draws on almost thirty years of teaching to take us inside the writing workshop, where students from all over the world meet to share and discuss their work. She finds that in this space a kind of alchemy occurs, where paying real attention to one another and what we have to say – the ultimate challenge in our atomised, ‘always-on’ society – becomes a profound emotional education.
Weaving philosophy, psychology and politics together with stories from the workshop, and featuring wise, practical advice on how to go about writing, this generous and thought-provoking book is about the transformative practice of noticing and slowing down. It shows how bad writing teaches us good things, how creativity helps us to see and be seen, and how reading and writing together fosters connection, tolerance, more expansive ways of thinking, richer access to language, new perspectives – and a better understanding of ourselves and others.
*
‘What appears to be a guide to creative writing is actually a brilliant manual for how to exist in groups, to handle painful material, to grow together. Could anything be more necessary or inspiring?’ Olivia Laing, author of The Garden Against Time
‘Generous, intelligent, full of wisdom and insight’ LILY DUNN, author of Sins of My Father
*
A transformative guide to creative writing and the power of paying attention.
The way we use language to tell stories reveals a lot about who we are and what matters to us. In Between the Lines, Julia Bell draws on almost thirty years of teaching to take us inside the writing workshop, where students from all over the world meet to share and discuss their work. She finds that in this space a kind of alchemy occurs, where paying real attention to one another and what we have to say – the ultimate challenge in our atomised, ‘always-on’ society – becomes a profound emotional education.
Weaving philosophy, psychology and politics together with stories from the workshop, and featuring wise, practical advice on how to go about writing, this generous and thought-provoking book is about the transformative practice of noticing and slowing down. It shows how bad writing teaches us good things, how creativity helps us to see and be seen, and how reading and writing together fosters connection, tolerance, more expansive ways of thinking, richer access to language, new perspectives – and a better understanding of ourselves and others.
*
‘What appears to be a guide to creative writing is actually a brilliant manual for how to exist in groups, to handle painful material, to grow together. Could anything be more necessary or inspiring?’ Olivia Laing, author of The Garden Against Time
‘I loved it’ KIT DE WAAL, author of The Best of Everything
‘Generous, intelligent, full of wisdom and insight’ LILY DUNN, author of Sins of My Father
*
A transformative guide to creative writing and the power of paying attention.
The way we use language to tell stories reveals a lot about who...
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About the author
Julia Bell is a Reader in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of three novels, a poetry collection and the acclaimed essay Radical Attention (Peninsula Press), and her work has been published in the TLS, the New Statesman, The Paris Review, and Prospect, as well as broadcast on the BBC. She has given talks and workshops across the UK and internationally for the British Council.
Julia Bell is a Reader in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London. She is the author of three novels, a poetry collection and the acclaimed essay Radical Attention (Peninsula Press), and her work has been published in the TLS, the New Statesman, The Paris Review, and Prospect, as well ...
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